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Best Personal Loans for Excellent Credit

Lisa Iannucci is a veteran of magazine and book publishing. She has written about personal loans, credit and debt, and other personal finance issues for many publications and websites, including Bankrate, Apartment Therapy, The...

You pay your bills on time, have a steady income and keep your debt to a manageable minimum. As a result, you’ve been rewarded with an “excellent” credit score. Now that you need to take out a personal loan — maybe to fund a home remodeling project, pay for medical bills or put a down payment on a car for your child — you’ll reap the benefits by being eligible for one with a more competitive interest rate and lower monthly payments.

But, even with such an excellent credit score, you should still shop around for the best deal. After all, there are differences with each lender’s loan, the rates they offer and the fees they charge.

LightStream

By clicking “See Offers”, you may or may not be matched with any lender mentioned in this article. Based on your creditworthiness, you may be matched with up to five different lenders in our partner network.

The fine print

Low interest rates are great for those who have excellent credit scores, but be careful. The interest rate quote it gives you is for its autopay program. If you don’t use it, you’ll have to add 0.50 percentage points to your quoted rate. Besides your stellar credit score, you must also have a healthy credit history with major credit cards and some sort of other debt, such as a mortgage or car payment. You also need a bit of savings, too, whether you keep it in stocks or bonds or a savings account.

Pros

No fees: Some lenders charge an origination fee to process your loan, but LightStream isn’t one of them. It also does not charge late fees or prepayment penalties if you decide to pay off your loan early.

Autopay discount: Another way to save more money on your loan is by using LightStream’s autopay discount of 0.50 percentage points. You must request this before funding your loan.

It offers a Rate Beat program: Show LightStream a competitor’s same APR and it will beat it by 0.10 percentage points under some conditions. The lender’s APR must not be supported by any third-party arrangements, and the interest rate offer must be generally available to all its customers who share a similar credit risk profile. You must be approved by the other lender and provide this information to LightStream.

Cons

LightStream requires that you tell it what you are using the money for. You cannot deviate from that or the loan is void.

RocketLoans

RocketLoans offers personal loans for as low as $2,000 (up to $45,000) with terms of 36 or 60 months. The company is part of Quicken Loans and is the sister company to Rocket Mortgage.

By clicking “See Offers”, you may or may not be matched with any lender mentioned in this article. Based on your creditworthiness, you may be matched with up to five different lenders in our partner network.

The fine print

The APR with RocketLoans depends on your credit score, monthly income and debt-to-income ratio, among other things, but it starts at 7.16%. The one-step application process is easy. Enter your personal information and you’ll receive a list of loan options that includes the monthly payment, APR and origination fee.

Pros

Quick deposit: Need money fast? If you are approved for a personal loan, same-day funding is available for loans up to $25,000 as long as the loan is completed by 1 p.m. Your bank’s rules apply here, so make sure you check with it first.

Soft Pull: RocketLoans offers a soft pull without a ding to your credit score. You can find out if you’ll be approved for a personal loan before the formal application. If you accept a loan, RocketLoans will do a hard pull on your credit report.

Cons

You are limited to a loan maximum of $45,000.

Fees: RocketLoans charges an origination fee of 1.00% - 6.00% of the amount of the loan you are taking out. That fee is deducted from your loan before it is deposited into your account.

RocketLoans is a reliable company that has a simple and easy-to-understand process.

Payoff

Even people who have high credit scores and little to no debt can find themselves with unexpected credit card charges because of hospital bills or a trip where you indulged in a little too much shopping. Now you would prefer to pay off the higher-interest credit card debt with a lower interest personal loan. Payoff is an online lender that works with verified lending partners to originate personal loans between $5,000 and $35,000 with a minimum APR of 5.99%. These loans are only designed to eliminate or lower your credit card balances, and come with terms of 24 and 60 months.

By clicking “See Offers”, you may or may not be matched with any lender mentioned in this article. Based on your creditworthiness, you may be matched with up to five different lenders in our partner network.

The fine print

You might have an excellent credit rating that beats Payoff’s minimum requirement of 640, but it still requires a debt-to-income ratio of 50% or less. You need a good credit history of at least three years and a minimum of two lines of credit where you are making regular payments — with no delinquencies greater than 90 days.

Pros

Payoff offers a soft credit check before you agree to a loan. You can see if you’ll be approved before you commit.

Fees: The good news is that Payoff has no early or extra payment fees, late fees, check-processing fees, annual fees or returned check fees.

Cons

Fees: On the flip side, Payoff does charge an origination fee — a fee for processing a loan — of between up to 5.00%. For example, a $20,000 loan with a 5% origination fee costs $1,000, so you will only receive $19,000.

Payoff does not offer loans to residents of Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio and West Virginia.

If you just need the loan for credit card debt, it’s a good deal, but availability does depend on your residence.

FreedomPlus

Whether you’re looking to pay off some credit card debt with a lower interest rate or need some help funding your child’s semester abroad, FreedomPlus offers personal loans between $7,500 and $40,000. The company is affiliated with Freedom Financial Network, which includes Consolidation Plus, Freedom Debt Relief and Bills.com.

By clicking “See Offers”, you may or may not be matched with any lender mentioned in this article. Based on your creditworthiness, you may be matched with up to five different lenders in our partner network.

The fine print

A personal loan with FreedomPlus starts with a competitive APR startin at 7.99%, depending on your credit score, with payback terms of two to five years. FreedomPlus personal loans also come with an origination fee of 0.00% - 4.99% of the loan amount.

Pros

Fees: FreedomPlus does not charge any prepayment penalty, so you can pay off your loan whenever want.

Your money can be made available to you within 48 hours after approval.

Cons

FreedomPlus does not arrange loans in Arizona for less than $10,500; Massachusetts under $6,500, Ohio under $5,500; and Georgia under $3,500.

Loans are maxed out at $40,000. If you are looking for a larger loan, you might want to shop around.

BestEgg

BestEgg, which is owned by Marlette Funding, offers personal loans between $3,000 and $35,000¹. For those with stellar credit, you may be offered a personal loan of $50,000 by special invite only. (The minimum individual annual income needed to qualify for that invite-only loan is $130,000.) The funding can be used for a variety of things, including to pay off credit card or medical debt, pay for moving expenses or to cover adoption fees.

By clicking “See Offers”, you may or may not be matched with any lender mentioned in this article. Based on your creditworthiness, you may be matched with up to five different lenders in our partner network.

The fine print

The APR on a personal loan from BestEgg starts at a competitive rate of 5.99% and goes up to 29.99%¹. Several terms are available, but you’ll have to contact BestEgg to see what it offers.

Pros

Soft credit check: BestEgg offers a soft pull that only becomes a hard credit check when you accept a personal loan from it.

BestEgg offers a wide variety of uses for the personal loans. It is not just limited to credit card consolidation.

Cons

BestEgg charges an origination fee of 0.99% - 5.99% based on the cost of your loan.

All loans in Massachusetts must exceed $6,000; $5,000 in New Mexico and Ohio; and $3,000 in Georgia. Be aware of these limitations if you are applying from one of these states.

BestEgg remains competitive with other online lenders for personal loans to anyone with excellent credit.

Methodology

Lenders were selected from MagnifyMoney’s personal loans comparisons page when sorted by borrowers looking for $10,000 with excellent credit who hold a college degree. They were narrowed to the top five picks based on lowest APR. MagnifyMoney is a subsidiary of LendingTree.

*Your loan terms, including APR, may differ based on loan purpose, amount, term length, and your credit profile. Rate is quoted with AutoPay discount. AutoPay discount is only available prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% higher. Subject to credit approval. Conditions and limitations apply. Advertised rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Payment example: Monthly payments for a $10,000 loan at 3.49% APR with a term of 3 years would result in 36 monthly payments of $292.98.

¹The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the cost of credit as a yearly rate and ranges from 5.99% to 29.99%, which may include an origination fee from 0.99% - 5.99% that is deducted from loan proceeds. Any origination fee on a loan term 4-years or longer will be at least 4.99%. The loan term and the APR offered will depend on your credit score, income, debt payment obligations, loan amount, credit usage history and other factors. Additionally, the APR offered is impacted by your loan term and may be higher than our lowest advertised rate. Requests for the highest loan amount may result in an APR higher than our lowest advertised rate. You need a minimum 700 FICO® score and a minimum individual annual income of $100,000 to qualify for our lowest rate.

Best Egg loans are unsecured personal loans made by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey State Chartered Commercial Bank, Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. "Best Egg" is a trademark of Marlette Funding, LLC. All uses of "Best Egg" on this site mean and shall refer to "the Best Egg personal loan" and/or "Best Egg on behalf of Cross River Bank, as originator of the Best Egg personal loan," as applicable. Loan amounts generally range from [ps name='personalloan.35.min_loan']-[ps name='personalloan.35.max_loan']. Offers up to $50,000 may be available for qualified customers who receive offer codes in the mail. The minimum individual annual income needed to qualify for a loan of $50,000 is $130,000. Borrowers may hold no more than two open Best Egg loans at any given time. In order to be eligible for a second Best Egg loan, your existing Best Egg loan must have been open for at least four months. Total existing Best Egg loan balances must not exceed $50,000. All loans in MA must exceed $6,000; in NM, OH must exceed $5,000; in GA must exceed $3,000. Borrowers should refer to their loan agreement for specific terms and conditions. Your verifiable income must support your ability to repay your loan. Upon loan funding, the timing of available funds may vary depending upon your bank's policies.

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you.